Annex 5_Responses to Questions.pdf

Amendment-01 to NOFO: 72039122RFA00002 Annex-5

Question-1: Will the Business (Cost) Application be submitted with the Technical Application, or will it be requested to submit by the Client after evaluation of the Technical Application?

Answer-1: Please see Section D (7) of the NOFO. [Reference Page 25]

Question-2: Refer to the Page# 23, under the heading “Applications must comply with the following” point 6 is mentioned as below: “The estimated start date identified in Section B of this NOFO must be used in the cost application.” While no start date is appearing in section B (Page 17) and stated as below: The anticipated period of performance is 36-months. The estimated start date will be TBD. Could you please provide the information of the Start Date for the preparation of the Cost Application and also for logical preparation of a comprehensive submission?

Answer-2: The estimated start date of the award will be communicated to only those applicants whose technical application will be considered successful and are required to submit a Business (cost) application.

Question-3:. Will there be any requirement relating to Financial Audit for this project, if yes, then would it be Recipient Contracted Audit (RCA) or Agency Contracted Audit (ACA), please clarify.

Answer-3: Please see Standard Provision M2. ACCOUNTING, AUDIT, AND RECORDS (MARCH 2021) of the NOFO. The relevant information will be provided at the post-award stage.

Question-4:. Will the Business (Cost) Application be submitted in PKR or USD on the given templates?

Answer-4: The information will be communicated to only those applicants whose technical application will be considered successful and are required to submit a Business (cost) application.

Question-5: Refer to the Form “ Application for Federal Assistance SF-424” following points need to be clarified:

a) Point 4. Applicant Identifier – It is our understanding that it would be firm’s DUNS or CAGE Code, is it so, please clarify.

b) Point 8 (f) Organizational Affiliation - Enter organizational affiliation if affiliated with an organization other than that in 7.a. (as per instructions) – We are Not able to understand this requirement, could you please elaborate it.

c) Point 17 (a&b) – Proposed Project – Please provide the Project Start Date so we would be able to fill them out.

d) Point 18 – Estimated Funding – Would it be the total of our Business (Cost) Application? And would it be federal funding? What is program income?

Answer-5:

a) A Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is a unique number assigned to all entities (public and private companies, individuals, institutions, or organizations) who register to do business with the federal government. There will be a UEI for each profile that is registered with SAM. DUNS number is the current unique identifier that the government uses to verify entities. On April 4, 2022, the U.S. government will switch from using the DUNS number to a new Unique Entity ID (SAM), also known as a

UEI)

b) The terms are broadly used for the following:

Organization

Generally, an organization is considered an entity or group of people united to achieve a common goal. A corporation is one of several types of organizations. A corporation, its employees, board members and shareholders generally serve to further the corporation's performance goals. An organization's goals may be unrelated to capitalistic gains. Some organizations serve non profit humanitarian goals, such as ending hunger, illness and poverty.

Affiliation

An affiliation describes an entity's connection to another entity. Affiliations come in multiple forms. A company holding a minority interest in another company may be considered that company's affiliate. A company has a minority interest in another company when it has partial ownership of the company but not enough ownership to control it. Through what's called affiliate marketing, a person or entity that markets another company's products may be categorized as an affiliate.

c) The estimated start date of the award will be communicated to only those applicants who will be considered successful and are required to submit a cost/business application.

d) It is the Total Funding estimated by the applicant.

For Program Income, please see ADS 303.3.10.4 Program Income

Question-6: Please provide the Form “SF-424A (Budget Information – Non Construction Programs) ” in excel version as it is mentioned in the instructions of this form that it would auto calculate the numbers. Pdf version will not serve this purpose.

Answer-6: The Link to SF 424A in Excel format is as here SF 424 A_Excel Format, however, submission of this Form is required with Business (cost) application.

Question-7: Refer to the Page# 23, under the heading “Applications must comply with the following” Point -1 is mentioned as below: In addition to the title page and annexes, USAID will not review any pages in excess of 25 pages. Please ensure that applications comply with the https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ijk02ZmAFEOrWx_EYrWZ1ypGUoa66DLY/edit#gid=557139011 page limitations. Could you elaborate on whether the following content/items will be included in the 25-page limit?

Management Approach/Plan Staffing Plan Mobilization Plan CVs of Key Expert Institutional Capability

Answer-7: Management Approach/Plan, Staffing Plan, Mobilization Plan and Institutional Capability will be included in the 25-page limit, whereas CVs of Key Expert are not included in the 25-page limit.

Question-8: Will the work plan be part of the technical application?

Answer-8: Work plan is not part of the technical application.

Question-9: What is the maximum number of pages for Key Expert CVs?

Answer-9: Four pages per key personnel position is the maximum page number.

Question-10: Will the Chief of Party be stationed at Jacobabad Project Site or Karachi?

Answer-10: The Chief of Party (CoP) will have to be at the project site in Jacobabad. The NOFO is amended accordingly.

Question-11: Refer to page 7 of the NOFO (second para), it’s mentioned that MCJ has a staff of 800 people. If possible, a list of complete staff with designations may be shared for a better understanding of the capacity-building component and so that the relevant experts may be proposed for the training of “management, technical and operational staff”.

Answer-11: As mentioned in the NOFO most of these staff members consist of sanitation workers.

Question-12: The NOFO talks about project components. It is understood that IR1 (Strengthened Municipal Committee Jacobabad capacity and commitment to deliver municipal services) and IR2 (WASH aware citizens paying for municipal services) are the two components of the projects.

Answer-12: IR1 & IR2 are the two main Intermediate results with each IR having sub-IR beneath them, which may also be referred to as components.

Question-13: There is a contradiction in the submission dates of the first Work-Plan/ Annual Work Plan on page 13 (within 4 months of project start) and page 49 (within one month of project start). Could this be clarified?

Answer-13: The work plan submission date has been updated.

Question-14: Refer to the Page# 25, under heading “Technical Application Format”, it is indicated as below The Technical Application must address the following three (3) factors at a minimum.

I. Technical Approach II. Personnel and management Approach III. Institutional Capacity and Past Performance (Please note that for the evaluation of technical factors, the importance of the technical factor “Technical Approach” is weighted more important than the other technical factors (Criterion 2 and Criterion 3) combined. And Refer to the Page# 32, it is stated as below:

Applicant must use the format provided in ANNEX # 4: Past Performance Information of the NOFO to document the detailed information as requested. The completed forms should be included in the Business (cost) application as an Appendix/Annex.

Answer-14: This Annex-4 Past Performance Information will be part of the technical application and will not be counted toward the page limitation of the technical application.

Question-15: Can you please clarify being an International NGO are we eligible to apply for this grant as you have mentioned clearly in the document (NOFO) that only local organizations are eligible. Or can we apply as a lead applicant with sub partner (local NGO).

Answer-15: Potential applicants are encouraged to review the SECTION C(1) of the NOFO for Eligibility Information.

Question-16: International organization (US Based) like [TBD] is eligible for this funding in any form (As prime or as a sub-recipient of any local NGO)?

Answer-16: See Answer to Question # 15.

Question-17: [TBD] is an IDIQ holder delegated to the project "Third Party Monitoring (TPM) Services for Municipal Services Program - Sindh (MSP-Sindh)" therefore, we would like to assure that USAID will not consider our current TPM role as the conflict of interest with this Water Governance project. Please clarify.

Answer-17: For submission of an Application, USAID/Pakistan encourages the potential applicant(s) to review the terms and conditions of their award(s), Contract Clauses, Program Description and Standard Provisions of this NOFO and their organizational policies on managing and mitigating the Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI). USAID/Pakistan will provide additional guidance if such an organization is considered for an award or deemed ineligible as a result of an OCI determination.

END OF ANNEX - 5